Kemi Badenoch has questioned why Nigel Farage has not apologised for alleged racist and antisemitic comments while at school, saying the weight of the evidence of more than 20 former schoolmates is significant.
In her strongest comments yet on the issue, the Conservative leader said she was struck that Farage had not admitted any fault or apologised, saying it would have been her first instinct as a politician.
She said the Reform UK leader’s refusal to apologise suggested that he “doesn’t care” about having hurt people in the past.
Twenty-eight of Farage’s Dulwich college contemporaries have told the Guardian of allegations that they experienced or saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him when he was a teenager, including Peter Ettedgui, 61, who is Jewish and said Farage repeatedly told him “Hitler was right” and “gas them”.
On Friday, Yinka Bankole said a then 17-year-old Farage had told him “that’s the way back to Africa” when he was much younger and new to the school.
Badenoch said Farage had “never said anything racist to me” but said the number of stories about his behaviour at Dulwich college meant his refusal to apologise was a “bit strange”.
She told TalkTV: “A lot of people are coming out saying he did say those things. He should just apologise. If he just said: ‘You know, I was a kid, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It was wrong. People shouldn’t speak like that,’ this would all have gone away.
“And that’s the problem. It’s not that he’s racist, that he doesn’t care. And actually, I think as a serious politician, if you want to run the country, you should care about how the words you say impact people.”
Badenoch said she had been struck by the number of former schoolmates who had come forward. “Interesting is it’s not one or two people. They’ve got like 20. They’ve got 20 people. So it’s a lot of people,” she said.
“Whether he remembers or not, he didn’t deny it. He said, well, actually, he wasn’t trying to hurt people. Nigel’s a big boy. He should just stand up, put on his big boy pants, and just say: ‘Do you know what? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.’ The fact that he doesn’t want to do that is a bit strange to me. That’s what I would have done.”
Farage and his spokespeople have cast doubt on whether his former schoolmates would be able to remember the alleged comments clearly and suggested he has been targeted for political reasons. He has consistently denied making any malicious comments.
At a press conference last Thursday, Farage reacted angrily to broadcasters asking him about the claims and said that while he may have said offensive things it was “never with malice”.
A lawyer acting for Reform had “categorically denied” that Farage had “ever engaged in, condoned or led racist or antisemitic behaviour” when allegations were first put to the party by the Guardian.
Bankole, who had just started at the school when he claims Farage singled him out for abuse, said he decided to go public after watching the Reform leader’s press conference. He said he was repeatedly targeted by the teenage Farage, who “would wait at the lower-school gate, where I was dropped off for school, so as to repeat the vulgarity”.
Reform UK were approached for comment about Badenoch’s remarks.
